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"Sometimes I didn’t even need to cut weight, I was at 205," said Mousasi as transcribed by MMAFighting's Chuck Mindenhall. "The last fight I felt the size difference, so, being in the UFC, I want to go for the title shot, and I think the best way to get to the title is at middleweight."

"He is a very different fighter from a typical stand-up fighter, he’s more of a counter-puncher. But he comes he’s vulnerable for counter-punching himself.

"I understand better now how he fights. I would say he is much more of a smart fighter. He lures you in, he feints, so I studied him very well. I can deal with it."

"I’m getting the chance to fight Machida. I’m excited, you know, because maybe I can get a title shot after this. There’s not many contenders at middleweight at this moment I believe. This is a fight I must win. With that mentality I’m going to go into the fight. I’m more relaxed than I was a year ago."

"I heard from my manager that it could definitely be for the next No. 1 contender."

"You have to be smart and make no mistakes. He’s dangerous if you lose your control and you get too aggressive or leap into your punches. That’s when he’s most dangerous, so you have to fight smart."

"I think I’ll do fine. I did a lot of sparring for this fight, five rounds, five minutes per. I tried to replicate the fight. Of course, it’s going to be in Brazil with a hostile audience, but other than that I just need to be smart and keep my cool and everything will be just fine."

“Francis is very good,” Georges St-Pierre said. “Francis is so good, he doesn’t know how good he is. He’s a lot better than he knows. He has a lot of potential. He’s well-rounded and an incredibly fast learner.

“When he first arrived in Canada, he was a kickboxer. But now he’s become a very good wrestler. He’s very good at adapting.”

The winner will be in an enviable position in the UFC’s 185-pound division ahead of May’s showdown between champ Chris Weidman and top contender Vitor Belfort. Souza stands as the oddsmakers’ choice, but St-Pierre, who trains alongside Carmont at Montreal’s Tristar Gym, thinks “Limitless” is primed for the upset.

“‘Jacare’ is one of the best in the world,” St-Pierre said. “He’s not only good in jiu-jitsu, but he’s good standing up. [Carmont] has got to use his reach and not be afraid of his ground game. If he sees a chance for a takedown, he’s got to go for it.

“Francis is one of the strongest guys I’ve met in my life. His grip is incredibly strong. When you don’t know him, it really surprises you. He needs to fight his fight and not over-respect [Souza's] jiu-jitsu.”

While St-Pierre is currently taking a break from active competition, the former champ made the long trek to Brazil to corner his training partner. St-Pierre said he’s looking forward to coaching his friend against such a high-level opponent and hopes he’s able to offer some worthy advice culled from his own time in pressure situations.

Perhaps that will ultimately be the role he chooses over fighting, but for now St-Pierre just wants to help Carmont to the biggest win of his life.

“I have a lot of experience in big fights and I’m a tactician, so I know ways to beat someone,” St-Pierre said. “I don’t know if I want to be a coach later. I’m not sure – I’m not there yet. I’m just doing it for fun right now. I don’t have a lot of friends in martial arts, but Francis is a good one, and I want him to succeed.”

"I’m more mature now," Silva told MMAFighting.com. "Some people will be surprised with the way I’m going to fight because they’re used to see me always aggressive since the start, but I’ll be more patient and cautious now.

"That doesn’t mean I won’t be aggressive and explosive, though," he continued. "I’ll use it in the right time. When I find an opening, I’ll use it. I’ll hurt him before I explode. Getting there planning to finish the fight as soon as possible has a good side and a bad side, so fighting smarter gives me more chances to hurt my opponent without exposing myself too much."

Silva entered the UFC in 2011 and quickly became one of the hottest prospects in the welterweight division, but an official UFC record of 3-3 isn’t what some expected from him. He feels he’s ready to become one of the best with the lessons learned against Jon Fitch and Dong Hyun Kim, though.

"That’s a problem I had, but I don’t have this anymore," he said. "I’ve been training (wrestling) a lot since the Fitch fight. After that I fought High and Kim, two good wrestlers. I submitted High quickly and Kim knocked me out, but I was stopping all of his takedowns. I was doing great. Kim used to take everybody down and he couldn’t do that to me, and that shows that my takedown defense is getting better.

"I just needed the experience, so I don’t need anything now. We fixed everything that we needed to fix so I’m super excited, motivated and relaxed for this fight. I’m anxious to get out of the Octagon with the win."

Initially expected to meet Nate Loughran at UFN 36, Silva didn’t change much of his training when he was replaced by Sato due to an injury.

"Didn’t bother me at all," he said of the change. "At least I had a month to adjust what I had to. And I didn’t change much, actually, because they are both southpaws, so I just changed a little bit my strategy. This is the third southpaw grappler that I’m fighting, so I feel like I trained for him for over a year."

UFN 36 was the first event where the tradition Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night $50,000 bonuses were dropped in favor of two Performance of the Night bonuses. The change was instituted because there are events where no knockout or submission takes place. However, at UFN 36 there was one submission win and one Ref Stops Contest, and those ended up winning the performance bonus after all.

Dana White @danawhite
It was a great fight! Lyoto looked f–-ing awesome against someone NASTY.

Machida himself, ever the humble martial arts master, had a more nuanced assessment.

“The thing is, we always want to be able to get a knockout or submit our opponents, but Mousasi’s a very tough fighter,” said Machida at the post fight press conference, as transcribed by MMAJunkie. “He’s shown us he’s been a champion in the U.S. and Japan, so when you’re going against one of the top fighters, a single detail can make all the difference. So I think it was a very tough fight. I have to watch it again, but I’m sure I’m ready for the title bout.”

Managing Director of UFC Brazil Grace Tourinho said that Machida is not necessarily the next contender. That has to wait for the title fight between Chris Wediman and Vitor Belfort at UFC 173 on May 24.

“In reality, we still have a fight that has to be done," said Tourinho at the post-fight press conference. "So we need to wait for that fight to happen and then I’m sure everyone will get their chances.” Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil.

An obvious alternative to a title fight would be a #1 contender showdown between the winners of Saturday's co main.

Both fighters were asked at the post fight press con, and both said they would take the fight, albeit with some reluctance. Via MMAFighting's Guilherme Cruz:

Guilherme Cruz @guicruzzz
•Jacare on fighting Machida next: "This fight can happen, yes. I wouldn't like this fight, but I'd take it."
•Machida on fighting Jacare: "Like Jacare said, I wouldn't like this fight, but I'd take it."

“I don’t know. I think he was just better,” Mousasi said at the post-event news conference after suffering his first loss in the UFC. “I couldn’t get into my game. He was just a step before me always. I don’t know about the scoring – maybe I had one round. Maybe two.”

As many others have experienced against Machida in the past, Mousasi said finding a way to score points against the karate expert became an issue.

Machida, a former light heavyweight champion, won for the second straight time after dropping down to middleweight and may have put himself in line for a title shot – though he’ll have to wait to see what happens between champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort in May.

“It was difficult to get the rhythm,” Mousasi said. “I didn’t feel like I had the range. He was masterful in his defense. I just couldn’t get started.”

Mousasi also shrugged off the thought that his 10-month layoff since his UFC debut win over Ilir Latifi this past April, and his subsequent knee surgery, had him experiencing any of the dreaded cage rust.

“It could be, but I don’t think so,” he said. “I think rhythm helps always. But I felt good going into the fight and I had no injuries.”

“I’m going to have to clean my arm out of these [bone] fragments,” he said at the event’s post-fight presser.

UFC Fight Night 36 took place at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Brazil. The event’s main card, including Souza vs. Carmont, aired live on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Of course, Souza’s self-appointed timeline isn’t much different than one following a hard-fought decision. He struggled in the second round to contain the Georges St-Pierre trained fighter’s striking, and pulled ahead on scorecards by utilizing his world-class grappling skills. The final tally was 29-28 thrice.

“I had no difficulty because of the injury,” Souza said. “I mentioned that I had a lot of [bone] fragments in my left arm, and some people said that I shouldn’t fight. I asked the UFC to trust me; I asked my physicians if I could fight, and they told me that I had a good chance of fighting, so that’s what I believed in.”

Souza said he was restricted to working his legs and boxing for over a month of training during his fight preparation. He said his teammates helped him train and he was “100 percent confident” walking into the cage.

Carmont had won six straight prior to the setback, while Souza earned his third straight win following his crossover from the now-defunct Strikeforce, where he once held the belt.

Souza now appears on the cusp of title consideration in the UFC, though his next career move is unclear. At the press conference, however, he was hesitant to welcome a bout with Luke Rockhold, who three years ago took his Strikeforce belt and recently rebounded after a debut loss to current contender Vitor Belfort.

“Yeah, it’s OK,” Souza said. “If the UFC thinks that’s what’s good, that’s it. When I think about Belfort hitting him, that’s what happens. If you come to Brazil, we will hit you. I think he’s way below in the rankings, but if the UFC thinks that has to be done, I’ll do it. I’ll prove I’m better than he is.”